ASTM E1020-13e1

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Designation: E1020 − 13 An American National Standard
Standard Practice for
Reporting Incidents that May Involve Criminal or Civil
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Litigation
This standard is issued under the fixed designation E1020; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year of
original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval. A
superscript epsilon (´) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.
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ε NOTE—Editorial corrections were made to 5.1.3 in March 2014.
1. Scope 2. Referenced Documents
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2.1 ASTM Standards:
1.1 This practice covers guidelines for the collection and
E620 Practice for Reporting Opinions of Scientific or Tech-
preservation of information and physical evidence and the
nical Experts
preparation of a documentation report relative to any inci-
E1459 Guide for Physical Evidence Labeling and Related
dent(s) involving personal injury, property damage, commer-
cial loss, or criminal acts which may reasonably be expected to Documentation
be the subject of litigation.
3. Significance and Use
1.2 The approach outlined is recommended as good profes-
3.1 This practice is intended to provide a complete written
sional practice even though the facts and issues of each
account of the case at hand in such a fashion as to allow
situation require specific consideration, and may involve mat-
another individual to interpret the particulars of the incident.
ters not expressly dealt with herein. Not every portion of this
3.2 This practice is suggested for documenting transitory
document may be applicable to every incident or investigation.
conditions and data that may change shortly after an incident
It is up to the individual preparing the report to apply the
and be lost forever if not properly and promptly documented.
appropriate recommended procedures in this guide to a par-
ticular incident or investigation. In addition, it is recognized 3.3 The primary use of this practice is to preserve pertinent
that time and resource limitations or existing policies may limit
information for use by technical experts and other technical
thedegreetowhichtherecommendationsinthisdocumentwill personnel who may be called upon to reconstruct the events
be applied in a given investigation. The responsibility of the
surrounding the incident.
individual preparing the report (or anyone who handles or
4. General
examines evidence) for evidence preservation, and the scope of
4.1 The report described in this practice may be prepared by
that responsibility varies based on such factors as the
any person(s) in a formal capacity. Persons investigating in a
jurisdiction, the status of the individual as a public official or
formal capacity include but may not be limited to international,
private sector investigator, indications of criminal conduct, and
federal, state and local officials, employers, owners, insurance
applicable laws and regulations.
personnel, and other technical experts.
1.2.1 This practice does not apply to laboratory analysis
reports.
4.2 The data documented by the report shall be factual and
1.2.2 If compliance with this standard is claimed, justifica-
should not contain opinions, hypotheses, judgments, or
tions for any deviations from this standard must be docu-
conclusions, nor should this report fix blame. For guidance on
mented.
reporting opinions, refer to Practice E620.
5. Content
5.1 An incident report should contain the following:
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This practice is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E30 on Forensic
Sciences and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee E30.11 on Interdisciplin-
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ary Forensic Science Standards. For referenced ASTM standards, visit the ASTM website, www.astm.org, or
CurrenteditionapprovedJune1,2013.PublishedJuly2013.Originallyapproved contact ASTM Customer Service at service@astm.org. For Annual Book of ASTM
in 1984. Last previous edition approved in 2006 as E1020 – 96 (2006). DOI: Standards volume information, refer to the standard’s Document Summary page on
10.1520/E1020-13E01. the ASTM website.
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E1020 − 13
5.1.1 Detailed chronological narrative of what occurred 5.1.6.2 Detailed description of the evidence, including
before, during, and immediately after the incident; including sketches or photographs where appropriate.
any associated personal injury, property damage, commercial
5.1.6.3 Photographs, sketches, and written descriptions, or
loss, or suspected criminal activity. The sources of information
any combination thereof, of both the location of the evidence
shall be identified.
before removal and any identification marks placed on evi-
5.1.2 Pho
...